Linda Brown's Staging Area

Running/Walking through the five NYC burroughs and getting to see the neighborhoods up so close was amazing! The support was amazing, the route was fantastic, the volunteers …. ALL OF IT is so incredible! I really wanted to soak this one in so I was not going for time but just to finish and I did! 🙂

Lots of aid stations and great organization and communication. Mix of road and trail throughout race, some single track. Beautiful scenery! Loved it!

There were aid stations every 2 miles for the first half then every mile after that. I did the half and loved every minute of it. The organization was perfect. Communication via email and website was great. I loved how they even had the names of what parking decks to park if you wanted to be by the start or by the finish. I loved the diagrams on their website and in the PDF race book they sent us a few weeks before. The pickle juice was different and I found I loved it! I do think it helped! The course is pretty flat and took us through a bunch of different neighborhoods and parks. There was plenty of crowd support but I never felt like it was crazy busy or crowded. All in all a great race that I would do again!

This was my fifth marathon and I thought the scenery was wonderful. I grew up in Ravena, NY, just south of Albany, and there were many areas that I had never seen or been to before. I loved the views of the rivers and the course was very easy to follow. The first 3 miles you run on paved roads in Schenectady before hitting the bike trail next to the Mohawk River. For the next several miles you are running on a nice bike trail with views of the river and the trees and houses along side. Virtually no traffic at all and there was plenty of help from the volunteers to tell you which way to go. There were aid stops every 2ish miles with water and gatorade. I was getting hungry around mile 10-12 and it would have been nice to have more than just Gu (I don’t really care for Gu). Maybe half a banana or bagel? Anyways, I think it was around mile 14-15 we got into the paved streets again and this part was a little rough in the city streets but everything was marked. There was traffic here but there were many volunteers and police helping to make sure nothing happened. I always felt very safe and secure during the entire race. Around mile 19 I hit the bike trail along the Hudson River and followed that to the finish. This trail has beautiful views of the Hudson River and there are picnic areas, trees, and other walking paths. The path was very wide and flat. Around mile 23 I went under a bridge and around some trees and then there was the city of Albany! The Corning Tower and The Egg in front of me. The crowds start to grow and it definitely helped me forget the horrible blisters on my feet and go faster to the finish at Corning Park. All in all it was a great course with lots to look at the whole way. The only complaint I have was that around mile 17 I saw a sign for a medical tent and I really needed some band aids for my blisters and I never saw any medical people or a tent? Weird. I would do this race again. I recommend it to anyone looking for a flat course with nice river views and trees. Albany is a sizable city but is easy to get around with plenty of parking, trails, shopping, site seeing, and fall apple picking!